Our tribal garden was planted to carry forward traditional Indigenous agricultural practices and the relationship between the land, the plants, and the people who have cultivated them for generations. Rather than growing each crop separately, the garden brings together a diverse selection of traditional food crops through companion planting, allowing the plants to grow alongside and support one another.
The garden includes blue corn and sweet corn, cranberry beans and Mountain High runner beans, and white scallop, butternut, and Narragansett squash. Together, these crops reflect the principles of the traditional Three Sisters planting system—corn providing structure for climbing beans, beans contributing to the fertility of the soil through their relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and squash spreading across the ground to shade the soil, retain moisture, and suppress competing plants.
By growing several varieties rather than a single crop, the garden also preserves the diversity of Indigenous and regional food traditions. Each variety brings its own history, characteristics, flavors, colors, and uses while growing as part of a living agricultural community.
For Mauwee Forest and Farms, this garden is more than a source of food. It is an opportunity to practice traditional agriculture on the land, learn directly from the relationships among these plants, preserve culturally significant crops, and share an agricultural tradition that remains as useful and meaningful today as it has been for generations.
Tribal Garden
Blue Corn, Cranberry beans, Early White Bush Scallop Summer Squash